Illegal migration, security and unemployment problems, and lack of development, would be the main election issues for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the northeast, party leaders said here Sunday.
“All round development and providing security to the people in the northeastern region would be the top priority if the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government comes to power at the centre,” said Harendra Pratap, national executive member of BJP in-charge of northeast.
Pratap and other leaders, including the party’s organising secretary for the northeast, P. Chandra Sekhar Rao, are now on a visit to Tripura region to finalise the party’s campaign plans. “The NDA government had earlier initiated development programmes and created a separate ministry for the region, but the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government miserably failed to continue these schemes,” Pratap told journalists.
The BJP leaders said the party would contest all the 24 parliamentary seats in the northeast - either on its own or in alliance with other regional parties.“The BJP would field candidates in eight seats in Assam, two seats each in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh and one in Manipur. In the remaining 11 constituencies it would be our allies that would put up candidates,” Pratap said.
Demanding creation of a North East Security Council (NESC), Rao said : “Infiltration from Bangladesh is a major issue and is changing the demographic pattern of the region.”